A used catalytic converter is one of the few parts where doing the listing properly gets it removed. Everything we write elsewhere about filling in the compatibility table is the wrong advice here. This is what eBay allows, why, and where the vehicle details have to go instead.
What eBay allows
eBay's policy: "Used catalytic converters must be recertified or listed as scrap metal, with no make or model information." New converters are allowed if they meet EPA aftermarket requirements.
So a yard has two honest options on eBay. Send the converter to be recertified, or list it as scrap by weight and material, with nothing that says what car it came off.
Why the vehicle is not allowed on the listing
Two reasons. The EPA does not allow a used converter from a salvage yard to be sold for reuse unless it has been tested and labelled, so a listing that names the car reads as a replacement part. And theft: a converter listed as fitting a specific model is exactly what a stolen one looks like.
What gets a converter listing pulled
- the year, make or model in the title
- a part number that identifies the vehicle
- rows in the compatibility table
Sellers on eBay's community boards report listings ended for naming the vehicle. On every other part the compatibility table is what gets you seen (see where fitment data goes on an eBay listing). On a converter, leave it empty.
The records your state wants
This is not legal advice. The linked statute is the authority.
Texas. Since SB 224 (2023), selling a converter removed from a vehicle means a record of its description, the buyer and the date, kept two years, which DPS or a peace officer may inspect. TDLR's 2025 rule adds the quantity and lets TDLR inspect it too. Occupations Code §2305.153 and §2305.155, 16 TAC §87.81. More on salvage yard software in Texas.
Florida. Since July 2023, possessing or selling a detached converter without proof of ownership is a third-degree felony unless you are a registered secondary metals recycler or a licensed salvage motor vehicle dealer. F.S. §860.142. More on salvage yard software in Florida.
California. A used converter may only be bought from listed sources, and a licensed dismantler is one. The core recycler buying it records the year, make and model of the vehicle it came from, and a copy of its title. Holding nine or more cut converters makes a person a dismantler unless they are a licensed junk dealer, recycler or core recycler. Vehicle Code §10852.5 and §220(b), B&P §21610. More on salvage yard software in California.
The usual route is not eBay
Most converters from a yard go to a core recycler or a registered scrap buyer, not to a marketplace. In California that buyer will ask for the vehicle's year, make and model and a copy of its title, which is the same information eBay will not let you print.
Keep the vehicle in the record, not the listing
So the converter's history has to live somewhere other than the listing. A converter tied to the VIN it was cut from is where Florida's proof of ownership starts and what California's buyer records.
YardTerminal keeps every part you pull tied to its donor VIN, converters included. It is not a compliance system. It keeps a sold part's history for 90 days after the sale, not the two years Texas asks for, so export it into the record you already keep.
Do not publish a converter to eBay through YardTerminal
One more thing, stated plainly because it matters. YardTerminal attaches the donor's fitment to every eBay listing it publishes, and today it has no exception for converters. An approved converter listing would go to eBay with exactly the vehicle details eBay forbids.
So sell converters the usual route, to your core recycler or scrap buyer, and ring the sale up at YardTerminal's counter. The part's record closes with its donor still attached, which is the history your state asks you to keep.